Nachum Segal | Interview with Executive Director at Amudim Andy Lauber

[music] Andy Lowber is with us. Andy is the executive director of Amudim and he no doubt is enthusiastic about the response that we've gotten so far since the beginning of this live stream yesterday. Andy, welcome to the show. >> Thank you so much. >> Am I right? Are you very >> We have to be excited. We have to be. Absolutely. >> You're very enthusiastic. >> There we go. It is amazing by the way when you think about the uh impact that mood has not only with the work they're doing but the fact that the general Jewish public understands how important a cause it is and that they respond in this way. Yes, it is truly remarkable that we're here today and the impact is felt. Uh we have some ways to go. We're looking forward to everyone uh coming in and uh helping us out get to our goal. But yeah, thank God it is quite remarkable. We're making a lot of inroads not just in getting the word out but also making inroads in under giving people a better understanding of our work. >> You've been involved in a not for-p profofit world for an entire career basically. Yeah. >> What makes Ammuden different? This is a new newer experience for you. What makes this organization so different? >> Excellent question. So I'll tell you just I was I literally talked to a friend of mine before we got here and he asked me that exact question >> and um >> Oh there it is. [laughter] So you know and I I relate to him like this. I said when I first started I was working in the with you know as a young teenager and with the special needs population and I remember growing up where the special needs population was very taboo. There was a lot of shame that was surrounded around it. >> It was not mainstream. >> It was not mainstream. There was little infrastructure. There are very few amount of organizations out there and until it took a while to be able to allow people to accept and recognize that this is a reality and to begin to create that infrastructure that acceptance and it took a long time. Here we are today where there's so much out there today and we've really made a lot of inroads you know later on at a high lifeline working with people and children and families and dealing with illness and loss and all sorts of challenging situations. You know, I came in, it was yella, and I came in and it was this is an illness, but we, you know, it's a it's a stain on our family. We're not going to talk about that. And I can be I was very proud to say that was very involved for many years to change that and to allow us to accept no one did anything to cause this. We have to recognize that, embrace it and be able to provide services and helps and support as a community. But now here I'm at Amuim and when we're dealing with addiction and you're dealing with trauma and you're dealing with real real mental health and abuse and in many ways I still think we're we're behind and that's where Amudam is really pushing the envelope in order to make that change and to be able to allow people to recognize that >> families maybe even the guy you sitting next to in Shul >> might be dealing with something and for them to recognize that we need to be able to be present as a community, as a nation, as individuals to allow people to heal and to get them the services and the help that they need to no long should no longer be a taboo conversation. There should be an open conversation that we are able to have as families and again as communities to move that needle and we're really really pushing hard. It's funny you know it always seems like luck people like yourself others in the administration of Ammudim are always pushing until it becomes normal to discuss these topics like you insist that and it's funny that you make the comparison or that you bring in the fact that you were dealing with special needs community and and different diseases obviously in the work with high lifeline and a lot of those things obviously are you know things that families can't prevent and I'm not suggesting that people should be blamed or should be cited for not preventing things in this But the reality is that unlike disease and special needs which you know again happens to a family in this case we're dealing with vices and and situations that are seeping into our community from other parts of this country and other parts of society. So it seems a bit different to me that >> I mean I agree to disagree. I'm going to say that in truth this is an ancient uh we've we've had these problems for many many years. I think we're just coming to really address a lot of these problems. Um, yes. Is there a challenge that we've been quote unquote assimilated or whatever you want to we've been part and parcel of our society >> and the things that are new in regular society become ours. >> Correct. And it's definitely making impact is true. But let's call it spade spade. People have been dealing with depression. People have been dealing with anxiety. People have been dealing with all sorts of medical excuse me all sorts of mental illness for for hundreds of years. This is going on for a very long time. I guess I keep focusing on the fact that things like online gambling is like a new thing now. So online and sure enough, unfortunately it has seeped into our community. So I'm always thinking like what's happening in 2025 and now the community% it's listen anything that we're exposed to and something that we need to address again and I think she brought this up and it's very very very important. It needs to be a type of conversation. you you have to be able to be comfortable >> to have the actual conversation and that's what I think really when it comes to education and prevention of what we're trying to accomplish aside for you know the clinical case management and all the therapy and all the attacking the actual issues but to be able to provide education and awareness and to be able to take Raboniman and lay leaders >> and get them used to >> and get them have real conversations about abuse, about addiction, about mental health in a way which they not only can understand but now they can be present for their constituents. They can be present realizing that this is something that they have within their own communities. Um it's something that I'm I already have been involved with and I'm very very proud to see and watch how this revolution is happening and how more and more Abonim and more and more people are are really not just embracing it but they're recognizing this is an issue and that we can't you know we can't put this under the carpet anymore. It was never easy being a rabbi or Revson, but these days it seems like the challenges are insane. >> Their hands are full. >> Um I it's funny because one of the things I wanted to ask you was about the the vision and always discusses this the vision for Ammudam and the things that you know you think about in terms of what's going to happen a year or two from now and what you you know being ahead of the curve so to speak etc. What is your vision I mean as you go through all this normalization it seems is one of [clears throat] those visions. What else do you think about? Oh, I you know that's definitely something I and I just wanted to extend that for one more >> I I we're we have Denu which I think they've spoken about you're going to talk about a little later also which is a social emotional learning curriculum that we have we're now over 100 schools >> and the more we see that schools and lay leaders and for that matter we start at a younger age and you're able to make this change by educating them and giving them this opportunity to understand and you and We didn't when we were in school, >> it was different. >> They didn't talk about anything. You didn't learn about anything. Let's be honest, right? You found out the stuff in the back of the bus and maybe you know old friend here and there, but you didn't you didn't talk about a you never had that kind of conversation. >> You definitely didn't ever talk about that with anybody else. This was never >> not even your parents, >> not your very rarely, right? And very often it was shamed. But today where the society is, we need to embrace that this is a reality and we need to empower our children. We need to be able to give this staff and the educators give them the capabilities to be able to step out and give what the children need today. So I believe that the more we make inroads with this with Denu with our path which is our the those are the the social moal learning curriculums that we have the more we're able to do that I think that a we're not only going to educate the future but we're going to see a big shift. That's number one. Number two is really recognizing that there's so much out there that you can receive by a phone call. Mhm. >> There is it's okay to not be okay and it's okay to recognize that sometimes we have challenges that I need to reach out and to get a proper assessment from a clinical case manager and to be able to get into that therapy that I've been waiting for and whether sometimes that might be an impatient or outpatient facility. It's okay to recognize that we're here not only to support you, but the more we're able to get that word out to people that you there is a place to turn and that you can't you don't have to go through this alone and you can embrace that. So all this we're making huge inroads. Our call volume is unfortunately going up and up, but at the end of the day, >> the more we've embraced it as a community, the more we'll see the help come through. >> These figures must motivate you, frankly. I mean, we're at 2.265. 265. I I lauded the community earlier that they get it. They get that this is a good investment. They get it's important and I would assume that when you see this kind of support from thousands of donors, it motivates you to just keep on going. >> Absolutely. Motivates us and absolutely when we see people who understand and recognize that this is a vital mission and they want to not just partner, they want to be completely supportive of it. Yeah. It gives us tremendous amount of strength. Um and we definitely need to break through into more communities into more understandings and because the really this is global and ammud receiving calls from we you know we can go through it's very very very good with statistics and we have every literally every single call where it's coming from >> so we're able to show you from the the globe this is a uh an issue that's facing everybody and I'll tell you one thing I I I kept on thinking about after like I think it was my first month there. I think we have like a perception of the person of the individual that's going through whether it be an addiction, whether it be uh you know serious abuse, we have a certain >> prototype, >> right? Maybe the guy strung out in the corner or something like that, right? I think that's sort and then you're in it and once I was in it, I started to realize, oh, this is >> anybody could be, >> you know, just like illness we know affects everybody and anybody doesn't make a difference. socioeconom economics doesn't make a difference any >> well we're talking about CEOs we're talking about abundant we're talking about families people that you would never ever imagine women men does make a difference and the more I was realizing what's going on here the more I said this is a problem that we need to really address and we have to be able to support so there's a lot to do we need your support we need to be able to get there we're really really almost there because this is so crucial to support. It really goes every dollar. It really does go to help saving lives. I I can't even tell you how many hours our clinical case management team and our therapists are working. >> A lot of overtime. >> It's not it's it's it's wild. It's wild. [music]